Mind Control Lab

Dr. Dwain D. Allan is the founding director of Taiwhanga Whakahaere Hinengaro – The Mind Control Lab at the University of Canterbury and a leading expert on the psychology of success. His work focuses on how we can change, direct, and harness the power of the mind to unlock greater potential and achieve success in a world of accelerated flux. He is especially interested in the subjective aspects of the mind — and, more particularly, the profound but hidden influence they exert on objective reality. In addition to his core research programme, Dr. Allan is a recognised authority in the fields of human–AI interaction, social robotics, systems science, and the relationship between the mind and social technology products.

Beyond academia, Dr. Allan is a respected founder, board member, advisor, and go-to expert for success-motivated individuals. Clients include world-class founders, CEOs, executives, athletes, coaches, and thought leaders, whom he teaches how to use his models and methods. Unsurprisingly, therefore, Dr. Allan has a special interest in producing scholarly knowledge that is both theoretically important and practically useful.

 

His iwi affiliations include Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Raukawa, and Ngāti Whakaue.

 

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Research Topics:

 

➟ Success Psychology

➟ Mindsets and Self Beliefs

➟ Mental Performance and Psychological Thriving

➟ Mind and Behaviour Change

➟ Psychological Interventions

➟ Meaning and Mental Representation

➟ Placebos and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

➟ Plasticity and Change

➟ Confidence and Self-Efficacy

➟ Psychological Construction and Perceptual Control 

➟ Computational and Theoretical Neuroscience of Feedback

➟ Drive and Motivation

➟ Peak Performance and Coaching Psychology

➟ Executive and Leadership Psychology

➟ Social Influence and Cyberpsychology

 

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UC Research Commitments:

 

➟ Societal Resilience

➟ Sustainable Futures

➟ Technology for Real-World Benefit

 

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Media Keywords:

 

➟ Psychology 

➟ Success 

➟ Beliefs 

➟ Mindsets

➟ Achievement 

➟ High-Performance

➟ Mental Performance

➟ Mental Wellbeing

➟ Winning

➟ Flourishing 

➟ Thriving

 

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📌  Dr. Allan is not currently considering PhD students. If you're interested in working with the lab, please complete the Lab Membership Form → HERE. 

Ekant Veer is a Professor of Marketing in the Department of Management, Marketing and Tourism at Te Whare Wananga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury, Christchurch. He is a multi-award winning teacher and researcher having been named in the Top 40 under 40 Business School Professors worldwide; an Ako Aotearoa Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award winner; UC’s Teaching Medal awardee in 2017 and six times winner of a UCSA lecturer/staff of the year award. His work looks at the role that marketing can play in both driving social change and community wellbeing as well as what impact digital technology plays in consumer interactions and their sense of identity. His research has been published in numerous international journals, such as the Journal of Marketing Management, The European Journal of Marketing, and The Journal of Public Policy and Marketing. Ekant was also the Associate Dean of Postgraduate Research from 2019-2023 supporting the learning journey of UC's research ākonga and supervisors, as well as the founding Kaihautu | Director of Te Pae Rakahau | Canterbury Knowledge Commons from 2020-2022, which sought to bolster relationships between the university and our wider regional partners.

The physical world is visible. The social world is invisible.

 

Every human mind is fundamentally private. We cannot directly observe another person's thoughts, motives, intentions, or values. Yet we spend nearly every waking moment navigating a world of invisible minds. We judge what other people intended, what motivated their actions, whether an act of kindness is sincere, whether a sacrifice reflects genuine commitment, or whether a stated reason is merely an excuse. We perform these inferences so effortlessly that we rarely notice we are solving one of the most fundamental cognitive problems of social life.

 

This mystery originally drew me to psychology through an interest in consciousness. I was fascinated by the prospect that scientists could study something directly accessible only to the person experiencing it. Over time, that fascination evolved into a related but more tractable question:

 

How do we navigate a world of invisible minds?

 

My research explores one of the central ways humans solve this problem: using the words people choose, the actions they take, the sacrifices they make, and the tradeoffs they accept as clues to what is happening in other minds. I study the psychological principles people use to interpret these clues and make sense of other minds. Those interpretations shape everything from moral judgment and cooperation to conflict, politics, and everyday social interaction.

 

More recently, I have become equally interested in the complementary side of this process. If our words and actions leave traces of our minds, people also learn to shape those traces. We reveal, conceal, justify, exaggerate, and sometimes misrepresent our motives in order to influence how others interpret us. Understanding both how people make sense of other minds and how people strategically shape the traces they leave behind forms the core of my research program.

 

From questions about moral character and free will to political conflict and artificial intelligence, I am ultimately trying to understand how humans navigate a world of invisible minds.

 

I investigate these questions using laboratory experiments, online experiments, field studies, and analyses of naturally occurring data. My research emphasizes rigorous experimental methods, transparency, and the principles of open science.